Police watchdog The Independent Office for Police Conduct said that nationally the number of recorded complaints had decreased by 7% on last year's figure.

The IOPC said there were "wide discrepancies" in the way police forces handled complaints.

Some forces choose to formally investigate most allegations made against them, while others use the less formal ‘local resolution’ process.

"This points to an overly complex complaints system and changes coming into effect next year to simplify complaints handling are welcomed by the IOPC," said a spokesman.

Latest statistics show:

A total of 31,671 complaints were recorded by forces - a decrease of 7% on 2016/17’s figure. West Yorkshire Police recorded a total of 1,708 complaints, a decrease of 21% on last year.

West Yorkshire Police finalised 48% of allegations by local resolution.

Miranda Biddle, new Regional Director for the North East at the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).

Thirty-nine per cent of complaints made against police nationally fall into a broadly-defined ‘other neglect or failure in duty’ category; The second largest category of ‘incivility, impoliteness and intolerance’ accounted for 12 per cent of all complaints. Work is underway to define the complaint categories in a more meaningful way.

On average, it took West Yorkshire Police 122 working days to locally investigate an allegation, compared to 173 nationally. For allegations finalised by local resolution, it took an average of 28 working days to resolve the allegation, compared to 72 days nationally.

IOPC regional director Miranda Biddle said: "The statistics published today can help police forces in the Yorkshire region to improve the service they provide.

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"The information received through the complaints system can also help the police to deal with any worrying trends proactively within their communities.

"However, it’s crucial we don’t forget that behind every complaint someone is dissatisfied about the service they’ve received from the police, or how they’ve been treated by them.

"Some of the most valuable lessons are learned from the experiences of people who have felt the need to complain."

A number of changes to the complaints system will be introduced in 2019.

The spokesman added: "We are also ensuring that in future, less serious complaints dealt with outside the formal system will be captured and logged so we can see clearly what is driving people to complain at all levels. "This new data will assist the police service and our own thematic work to make improvements to policing as a whole."